WASHINGTON, D.C. — When the Nationals scored six runs in the sixth inning, I felt their chances of holding on to beat the Astros were pretty good. However, yesterday’s battle of bad bullpens, currently stuck in limbo until July 9 in Houston, proved me wrong.
I had a pretty significant post in my head, but I was simply too exhausted last night to write it and this morning my son woke up an hour early, cutting into my blogging time. With that in mind, I’ll not invest a lot of time in this post since it going up about 24 hours after the game started, though two months before it will end. It seems appropriate given the unusual game I was attending, an observance of what I called Cinco de Furlough1. I was in the stands courtesy of my friend Joe’s ticket, thank you sir. I hope the size L Corre, Teddy, Coree! t-shirt is sufficient.
My focus is the sixth inning, the home half, specifically. This summary from the ESPN box score says it all:
Roy Oswalt pitching for Houston HOU
C Guzman singled to center.
C Guzman to second on wild pitch by R Oswalt.
N Johnson walked.
C Sampson relieved R Oswalt.
R Zimmerman singled to center, C Guzman scored, N Johnson to second. 5-3
A Dunn grounded out to first, N Johnson to third, R Zimmerman to second. 5-3
E Dukes walked. 5-3
J Willingham walked, N Johnson scored, R Zimmerman to third, E Dukes to second. 5-4
A Hernandez walked, R Zimmerman scored, E Dukes to third, J Willingham to second. 5-5
W Harris hit for W Nieves. 5-5
W Harris struck out swinging. 5-5
J Flores hit for S Rivera. 5-5
J Flores walked, E Dukes scored, J Willingham to third, A Hernandez to second. 5-6
T Byrdak relieved C Sampson. 5-6
C Guzman grounded into fielder’s choice to shortstop, J Willingham scored on error by shortstop M Tejada, A Hernandez to third, J Flores to second. 5-7
N Johnson hit by pitch, A Hernandez scored, J Flores to third, C Guzman to second. 5-8
R Zimmerman grounded out to pitcher. 5-8
So it was a crazy inning, with 6 runs on only 2 hits. What a meltdown! Sadly the Nats was about as bad, just spreading the pain out over the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings.Noted chubby chaser Julian Taverez gave up three runs and SS Cristian Guzman made a costly error. Guzman later atoned for it with a homer to right center to put the Nats up, 10-9, but that lead was lost in the ninth with Kip Wells on the mound. Ryan Zimmerman missed a walkoff opportunity in the 11th and the game was suspended with Elijah Dukes on first after a walk. Then the rain got to be too much and we all went home. The game will be made up in July in Houston with Dukes on first.
Nats-Astros Game To Be Continued – The Post
Bullpen blunders keep game going – The Wash. Times
The Nats are in L.A. to play the Dodgers winners of all 12 home games this year. I’ll read about it in the morning.
UPDATE: The game was finished two months later: Pirates Joel Hanrahan finally gets his first Nats win of 2009
Footnote
1 Craig Dubow, Gannett Co. Inc. CEO furloughed everybody in the company in 2009 and laid off a lot of people. He the took a $37 million buyout and sued his Great Falls neighbor (Huff Post).